Israel: Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledges having given the green light to the beeper attack against Hezbollah

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged for the first time this Sunday that he gave the green light to the attack carried out against the Lebanese Hezbollah movement through his beepers in September, his spokesman, Omer Dostri, told AFP.

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During a weekly Council of Ministers meeting, Netanyahu affirmed that he had authorized this operation, which had not been claimed to date.Dostri indicated.

The attack cost the lives of nearly 40 people and injured 3,000 others, and preceded the Israeli offensive in Lebanon. More than 2,700 people have died in Lebanon since September 23, mostly civilians, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

The war in Gaza broke out after the bloody attack by Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which the Islamist group’s militants killed 1,206 people, mostly civilians.

The Israeli offensive in retaliation has already left at least 43,603 dead in the Palestinian territory, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Ministry of Health of the Hamas government, which the UN considers reliable.

Since the end of September, Israel is also waging an offensive on the northern front, in Lebanon, against the Islamist group Hezbollahan ally of Hamas.

Dozens dead in Gaza and Lebanon in new bombings

Dozens of people died this Sunday in Gaza and Lebanon in new Israeli bombings, before the deadline set by the United States to increase humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian territory expires on Wednesday.

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli airstrikes on two houses left 30 dead, including 13 children, the Palestinian Civil Defense reported.

The first attack hit a home in Jabaliya, in the north of the enclave, killing “at least 25” people, including 13 children, and wounding more than 30, the source detailed.

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Israeli troops launched a new offensive in that sector on October 6, to prevent the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas from reconstituting its forces there.

The United Nations warned that the area is “under siege” and Washington set this week as a deadline for Israel to allow in more humanitarian aid or face possible cuts to US military assistance.

Another bombing in the al Sabra neighborhood, in Gaza City, left five dead and several missing, the Civil Defense indicated.

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it was “examining” reports of the attacks.

In Lebanon, at least 38 people, including seven children, were killed in Israeli bombings this Sunday, 23 of them in the town of Aalmat, north of the capital, Beirut, according to the Ministry of Health.

Twelve other people were killed in bombings in the Baalbek region, in the east of the country, and three rescuers affiliated with Hezbollah died in Israeli attacks in the town of Adlun, in the south, the same source indicated.

Separately, at least seven people were killed in an Israeli attack on an apartment belonging to members of Hezbollah south of the Syrian capital, Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH).